Water soluble polymers, particularly polysaccharide polymers, such as, for example, guar, guar derivatives, starches, and cellulosic polymers, are commercially available materials used in a variety of applications, including as ingredients in food products, personal care compositions, agricultural pesticide compositions, and compositions, such as fracturing fluids, for use in oilfield applications.
In many applications, a polymer in the form of a dry powder is added to an aqueous medium and dissolved to form a viscous aqueous solution.
In some applications, it would desirable to provide a liquid concentrate that has a high polymer content and that could simply be diluted to the desired end-use concentration. This approach can be difficult, for example, concentrated aqueous polysaccharide polymer solutions tend to be highly viscous and difficult to handle.
There is a continuing interest in providing polymer in a convenient form that exhibits good handling properties and good storage stability.